Simple script to match riders with drivers.

It's a greedy, unoptimised search, so no guarantees that it works. It just seems to work (very quickly) for the few cases Ive tried.

python3 [tested on v3.9.7] pandas [tested on v1.2.5]

Put the following files into a single folder:

• main.py
• theBestPooler.py
• riders.csv
• drivers.csv

Run

python3 main.py riders.csv drivers.csv

The allocations will be printed to the console. See example_output.txt for an example of the expected output. Any riders that couldnt be allocated will also be listed.

For quick help:

python3 main.py -h

Optional arguments:

• desired verbosity: -v <integer>. 0 for no printing, 1 for printing the summary and the allocations. 2 and higher for debug printing.
• by default, I assume the csv files contain headers. If they do not contain headers, pass -n as an additional argument. Example:

python3 main.py riders.csv drivers.csv -v 2 -n

will assume the csv files have no headers, and the verbosity=level 2.

Each file contains (exactly) 3 columns: <name>, <seats>, <location>

<name> is just any string. preferably unique, but not necessary. Each row is treated as a different person.

For riders, <seats> is the number of required seats. Usually this will be 1. For drivers, <seats> is the number of available seats EXCLUDING the driver, i.e. if the number is 2, this driver can pickup 2 passengers

The <location> specifies where the driver/riders start/want to be picked up. These are assumed to be categorical, so make sure that there are no spelling errors. Insensitive to capitilization: 'north' and 'North' are treated as the same location.

Here is the basic psuedo-code:

Sort the riders: those requesting largest number of seats go in front
For each rider:
    Sort the drivers: those with fewest pickups so far go in front
    For each driver in same location:
      if assign(rider, driver) is possible
        assign(rider, driver)
        goto next rider
    For each driver not in same location:
      if assign(rider, driver) is possible
        assign(rider, driver)
        goto next rider
    print(error: cant assign rider to any driver)
print allocations

The sorts allow us to encode priority. Here I valued being in the same location most. Next most important is minimising the number of pickups by a driver.